A knock control is already known from German Patent Application No. 40 08 170, and in this the ignition angle is set by means of a characteristic diagram and, when knocking occurs, the ignition angle is retarded in order to prevent this knocking. Subsequently, this ignition angle is brought to the ignition angle of the characteristic diagram again by a return in steps in the direction of advance. Furthermore, the operating range of an internal combustion engine is subdivided into different ranges, so that, when a range is left, the ignition angle current at that moment is stored and, when the internal combustion engine is operated once more in this range, this stored ignition angle is outputted as a starting value. Now in the event of a change of range, the previously stored ignition angle may differ from the optimum ignition angle, so that, in the state of the art, the return of the ignition angle is carried out at increased speed. However, particularly when there is a large difference between the stored ignition angle and the optimum ignition angle guaranteeing operation near the knock limit, this method has the disadvantage that torque jumps detectable on the engine occur as a result of the ignition-angle jumps.